Another Year at the Air Show

We had so much fun at the Air Show last year that we decided to return this year.  It was more low-key than last year, fewer booths, less vendors, and only one day instead of two.  However, there were just as many planes and plenty of fly-by's for us to enjoy!

One of the booths had a really cool robot.  They let Charlie control it for awhile.

We stopped to eat on the field and watch the planes overhead.  Although I gave him other food, the only thing Ephram would eat were Fritos.  He ate the entire bag.

Charlie and Andy had burgers, (as did I.)

They had a bouncy house, so of course we had to let Charlie take a turn.

I think Ephram didn't believe me when I tried to explain that kids couldn't go in unless they were 3 and older.

There were a lot of very cool planes to look at.

We took a break from the sun in the hangar, trying to avoid getting burns.  It didn't work.  Charlie especially had a bad sunburn after spending the afternoon on the tarmac.  Regardless, it was cool and relaxing inside.  They had an old style jazz band playing that the kids enjoyed.

Finally, it was time to go home.  I have a feeling we will be back next year!

Ephram at 20 Months

New Skills

At 20 months Ephram was busy showing off new talents every day.

This is an example of multitasking.

Not only can he sneak his sippy cup out of the kitchen...

(And run faster than Mom to do it)

But he can also slip into Daddy's shoes and run some more...

All before Mommy catches him.

So I figured I might as well go grab the camera and give him more time to be gleeful about it all.

During this month he also started to really appreciate coloring.

And would carefully choose a color, all by himself and scribble with it a bit.

All while hamming it up for the ever-present camera.

I also stopped breaking up his food this month, as he finally began taking relatively small bites.

This, of course, led to more messiness... here, after eating a chocolate chip cookie.

It turns out he doesn't like to be messy.

He actually cried hysterically over this mess.

So his new eating freedom was closely followed by another skill...

Independent use of a napkin.  

Car playing evolved this month.  

No longer could we just drive the cars around and crash them.

Now they all needed to be lined up before and after driving.

And heaven help him that moves a car out of line-up.

His love of books, absent for a few months, returned in a big way.

He started copying the rest of the family by picking a book to read,

Laying down on the floor, and reading it above his head.

And then he started loading books into a basket, 

Carrying them to a destination,

Where he would settle down to read for awhile.

And by awhile, I really mean it.

This was probably his longest attention span activity.

He could read for a good 20 minutes.

But my favorite new part of his love of reading?

He started pointing out the pictures to whoever was around, and "reading" the book for an audience.

(Nevermind that you're supposed to read from left to right or front to back, right?)

So much fun to watch him grow!

Ephram at 19 Months

An Active Boy

At 19 Months, Ephram was full of energy.

Sometimes he would sit still, but I usually had to isolate him on a table or in a chair to make it happen.

I never felt too bad for doing this, because he was always so happy even though he was stuck.

He turned into quite the puzzle solver - here pushing three riding toys at once.

And then moving back to the dinosaur to try a different approach.

At the park, he loved to swing.  For five minutes.  Then he needed to get down.

Always happy to get his hands on my phone... if we have accidentally called or texted you, this is why.

Chasing the birds... He didn't care that they always flew away before he reached them.

He even started trying to climb this rope structure to be like his big brother.

He was definitely busy at 19 months.

But, as I have since learned, it was just the beginning of things to come.

Ephram and the Tricycle

The Kovars like bikes.  Andy definitely likes them the most - he now owns three to meet his varying needs.  But I enjoy a good bike ride, and Charlie feels deprived if he doesn't get out on his every non-rainy day.  So, we knew we wanted to introduce Ephram to wheeled transportation as soon as possible.

18 months may have been a little early, and if it weren't for tricycles with push handles, we would have had to wait much longer because of his short legs.  But, this past July we got Ephram his very own tricycle.  Andy, Charlie and I were all very excited.  And Ephram was excited that we were excited.

Andy opened the box in our family room and let Ephram help him build the tricycle.  This was probably the most excited Ephram had ever been.  It kept his attention for a long time... we even changed into pajamas, and he ran right back into the family room so he could continue building the tricycle with Daddy.

Finally, it was ready to ride.  Ephram climbed on and enjoyed rides around the house.  Charlie was excited that he could push the tricycle for Ephram too.

The real fun came the next day when we took the tricycle for its first voyage outside.  Ephram rode it around the cul-de-sac gleefully.  Andy introduced him to the concept of a wheelie, which prompted Ephram to ask to get off so that he could push it around and make it do wheelies all by himself.

The tricycle saw a lot of action this summer.  We took it out almost every day after lunch.  Even as it got colder and more wet outside, he has continued to enjoy riding it in the garage.  We can hardly wait until his little legs are long enough to support him on a bicycle!

Charlie the Builder

Charlie has really grown in a lot of his skills since we started therapy about a year ago.  He became a skilled bike rider, developed his musical ability on the piano, started reading, got better control of a pencil, and... started excelling in lego building.

One night I noticed there was a growing collection on Charlie's dresser, and I asked him if I could take a picture.  Andy and I had both worked with him multiple times on how to follow the picture instructions to assemble legos.  Honestly, he just didn't seem to get it... but he always had fun watching us build, and also created some great structures all on his own.

But, we went from incapability to a sudden ability.  He just figured it out on his own.  He went from us trying to explain what pictures were showing until we were so frustrated that we would just give up... to magically understanding them and not requesting an iota of help.  Things like this started popping up everywhere.

That's Charlie.  I've learned a lot about him in the past few years.  But the most important thing I have learned is that Charlie is very, very capable.  That when he is ready, he can do just about anything he wants to do.  I like the surprise of it all and constantly wait to see what skill he will suddenly pick up next!